Improved apparatus fo



S. S. WEED. APPARATUS FOR REMOVING HAIR AND LIME FROM HIDES.

No. 49,811. I Patented Sept. 5, 1865.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL S. WEED,OF STONEHAM, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR REMOVING HAIR AND LIME FROM HIDES.

Specification filrniing part 01' Letters Patent No. 49,811, dated September 5, 1865.

To all 'whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL S. \VE'ED, of Stoneham, in the county of Middlesex and State of lllassachusetts. have invented a new and useful Machine for Removing the Hair and Lime from Hides and Securing and Preparing Leather, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which- Figurelis a perspective view of my improved machine. Fig. 2 is a transversevertical section through the same.

My invention-consists in an improved ma chine for removingthe hair and lime from hides and scouring and preparing leather, in which the hide or leather is acted upon by a corrugated cylinder with an elastic material placed between the corrugations, the cylinder working in connection with ayielding pressure-roll and feed-rolls for drawing the hide or leather through the machine, as will now be more fully set forth and described in such terms that others skilled in the art may understand and use my invention. I

In the said drawings, A is the frame-work of the machine, in suitable hearings in whichruns the corrugated cylinder B, the shaft of which carries at one end the driving-pulley G and at the opposite end a cog-wheel, D.

The ribs or projections a on the cylinder B are curved from the center of its length toward each end, as seen in Fig. 1, and their square shoulders 3 form scraping-edges in the direction in which the cylinder is revolved, thus scraping the leather (when the machine is used torscouring) from the center outward, in a man ner similar to that performed by hand. The spaces between these ribs a are filled in with rubber or other elastic material, I), so as to adapt the cylinder to removing the hair from hides when the machine is to be used for that purpose.

E is an elastic pressure-roll, which revolves in bearings in the upper ends of the bifurcated arms, 0, which embrace the journals of the cyl- His an intermediate wheel,by means ot'which motion is communicated from the eog-whee1 D to the gearI on the shaft of the pressure-roll E, the intermediate wheel running on a stud,f, projecting out from a swinging arm,g, pivoted to the arm 0 at h, and when the machine is to be used for scouringleather this intermediate wheel is swung out of gear with the wheels D and I, the pressureroll E being revolved by the leather as it passes through the machine.

J Kare the feed-rolls, which are covered with rubber or other elastic substance. The lower one, K, runs in hearings in the frame-work A, while the upper one, J, has its bearings in a frame, L, which swings on thejournals of the roll K as a center. The shaft of the roll Jprojects outfrom the frame" L on one side, andcarries a gear, M, which is driven by a cog-Wheel (not shown in the drawings) on the shaft of the roll K, which also carries alarger gear, N, that is driven by the gear D on the shaft of the cylinder B.

O is a swinging rest, which is pivoted to the frame-work at 'i, and is brought up under the frame L, so as to'hold the upper roll, J, firmly in place, as seen in the drawings.

1 will first describe the operation of the machine when used for removing the hair and lime from hides, and afterward its operation when seourin g and preparing leather.

The machine being set in motion and the feed-rolls J being in the position seen in red in Fig. 2, the hide (shown in red) is taken out of the lime and entered at 4, Fig. 2, between the feed-rolls, with the hair side down, when the upper feedroll, J,is swung up into the position shown in black lines in Fig. 2 by raising the frame L, (which is held in place by means of the rest 0, as before explalneth) thus pressing the hair side of the hide against the corrugated cylinder B, and the intermediate wheel, H, having been thrown into gear, the foot-lever G is depressed so as to bring down the pressureroll E, which serves to press the hide against the upper feed-roll, J, the pressure-roll E talcing off a portion of the hair as it revolves in contact with the hide, and the remainder of the hair being taken off by the corrugated cylinder as the hide is drawn through the machine by the feed-rolls.

If preferred, the hide may be run through the machinein the opposite direction, the feedrolls being geared so as to revolve in a direction contrary to the arrows, the cylinder B always revolving in the direction of its arrow.

When the machine is to be used for scouring and preparing leather, the leather 5 is first passed between the yielding pressure-roll E and the corrugated cylinder B until it is caught between thefeed-rolls J K, the former of which is then brought up, as before explained, and held in place by means of the rest 0. The footlever G is now depressed so as to bring down the pressure-roll E and press the leather firmly against the corrugated cylinder B, which is then revolved in the direction of .the arrow, pressing the water out of the leather, and at the same time, by the peculiar form of its corrugations or ribs a, laying out and smoothing down the wrinkles on its surface, and as thefeed-rolls revolve, through the connections explained, the leather is carried between the np-.

per feed-roll, J, and the cylinder B, where it is still further pressed and smoothed down by its corrugated surface, and is dried and finished by passingbetween the feed-rolls J. 'K.

The corrugations a on the cylinder B may be more or less curved, as desired, or they may be inclined directly from the center to the ends, ifpreferre'd and where the maohineis to be used only for the purpose of scouring and preparing leather the rubber or other elastic material, b,

between the corrugations may be dispensed with, if desired.

It will thus be seen that the several operations of removing thehairfrom hides and scourin g and preparing the leatherare performed in a thorough and expeditious manner, and with a Very slight expenditure of time and labor.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

' 1. The corrugated cylinder B, with the rub- SAMUEL S. WEED.

Witnesses:

N. W. STEARNS, P. E. TESCHEMACHER. 

